At the turn of the 20th century, William Campbell and associates were contracted to build a trail and ferry. The Three Blaze Trail began at Grangeville proceeding to Dixie and across the Salmon River and the Chamberlain Basin wilderness to the Monumental Creek trail terminating at Thunder Mountain. Campbell's Ferry provided the doorway into one of the last gold rushes in the American West. It was estimated that nearly 1,800 men used the trail and ferry between 1900 and 1902.

After Campbell's mysterious disappearance during the winter of 1902-1903, the property changed hands until Joe Zaunmiller and his wife, Emma, became owners of the ranch. In 1938, Emma met a premature death when her horse bolted and she was struck by low-lying branches in the apple orchard.

Joe hired Lydia Frances Coyle, known as Frances, as a cook and ranch hand after meeting her on the Three Blaze Trail. Eventually they married and Frances began writing a weekly newspaper column detailing her remote life on the Salmon River.

Frances advocated for a bridge at Campbell's Ferry to replace the dangerous ferry crossing. Through her newspaper column, she generated public support and the bridge, linking the Payette and Nez Perce National Forests, was completed in 1956. To celebrate, she and Joe cut the ferryboat loose and it drifted down the river. - US Forest Service